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He’s hurt all the time. He hasn’t had a fourth quarter comeback in forever. It was his fault Mike Wallace left because he couldn’t throw it deep enough for him. He makes the wrong audibles. He was too ‘chummy’ with Bruce Arians and he is clearly the reason the team lost Super Bowl XLV and went 8-8 last year.

Ben Roethlisberger is a lot of things, but he isn’t Atlas. He is a human being after all and after being hailed as the savior of the beloved Pittsburgh Steelers’ franchise in 2004, he’s delivered on the field more often than not but yet his issues off the field still resonate with people which I find sad.

Some of what I mentioned in the opening is true. Roethlisberger cost his team at the end of games in Dallas and at home against Cincinnati with late game interceptions. While there were moments in each of those games where other Steelers certainly had a hand in the failings of the team, Roethlisberger is the QB and as such either gets the credit or gets the blame and he clearly fell into the latter.

I always find myself having to defend Roethlisberger on a periodic basis like this because there are so many who just love to pile on him for a myriad of reasons and often without much in the way of facts to support them.

Roethlisberger was having a Pro-Bowl caliber season before getting hurt against the Chiefs last year. He still ended up throwing 26 touchdowns to just eight interceptions and had a passer rating of 97 which was more than four points higher than his career average.

I often wonder if the injury that he sustained wasn’t as much mentally destructive as it was physically. Newly married and with a baby just under two weeks away, perhaps the sense of mortality was a factor and I can’t argue that one bit. No business of mine the way a person feels at a certain time so I can’t hold that against him.

Of course he received the usual ‘drama queen’ moniker when he revealed how serious the injury was but I’m pretty sure he could have cared less. He has often been ‘over the top’ but again, I’ll take it with everything else he brings to the table.

This week the NFL Network named Roethlisberger the 61st best player in the league as they count down their Top 100 which is so subjective it isn’t even funny. Honestly, I really could care less about these rankings because they are nothing more than an attempt to get people to pay attention to the NFLN between the draft and the pre-season.

For Roethlisberger, a two-time Super Bowl winner, I hope the list serves as one thing and that would be motivation. How much more can this guy be slighted by the so-called ‘experts’ before he just gives up? Maybe he has already and I couldn’t blame him. People hold grudges a long time and that’s their prerogative but for some reason perfection is expected of Roethlisberger but not everyone else. Welcome to being a QB in the NFL right?

This is year two now of the Todd Haley offense. There can no longer be any excuses made about the wrong audibles and whether or not Haley and Roethlisberger are ‘getting along.’ Go play the damn game and get over it. Roethlisberger only has so much time left in his career and should not waste it being pissed that Bruce Arians is no longer there. Leave that to the fans.

The motivational factors for Roethlisberger heading into this season are mounting. From the hated Ravens winning the Super Bowl behind Joe Flacco to the lack of respect from around the league and the drafting of his “successor”, Roethlisberger should have plenty of fuel for his motivational fire.

It didn't shock me at all. Ben missed four games and then had critical mistakes in a couple when he got back. If he is able to be on form this year from what he was the first half of last year, he'll be in the top-10 for next years poll.

relax, these ranking mean nothing.
if you really believe that ben(and other steelers) are going to take this personal and really try to prove them wrong, then we got alot bigger issues to worry about

If they mean nothing, why do guys hop onto twitter seemingly all the time, questioning their place on it? I grant you that just because "the players" vote a guy 61, obviously doesn't mean he is the 61st best player... but it doesn' mean "nothing". Actually, it seems that the rankings mean a lot to many players. Sapp, a couple NFLN reporters, and players on twitter, quickly and vociferously (Sapp among the most vocal) questioned the ranking.

Bottom line is, if the early season was any indication of the offense, all things are lined up for Ben to seize another moment. The offense is no longer based on him taking big hits for the sake of downfield throws. Couple that with an improved running game and OL... I'm excited to see it.

If they mean nothing, why do guys hop onto twitter seemingly all the time, questioning their place on it? I grant you that just because "the players" vote a guy 61, obviously doesn't mean he is the 61st best player... but it doesn' mean "nothing". Actually, it seems that the rankings mean a lot to many players. Sapp, a couple NFLN reporters, and players on twitter, quickly and vociferously (Sapp among the most vocal) questioned the ranking.

Bottom line is, if the early season was any indication of the offense, all things are lined up for Ben to seize another moment. The offense is no longer based on him taking big hits for the sake of downfield throws. Couple that with an improved running game and OL... I'm excited to see it.

If he wins a SuperBowl this season, he's arguably #1. If he wins the next 2, he's definitely #1. If he wins 3, he's #1 all time. I'm rooting for option 3.

It would be impossible for him to NOT take it personal. I, as a Steeler fan, was upset about it.

Ben was 26/8 TD/INT, has two rings, three SB appearances, at least four AFCC appearances... and there are 11 better QBs???

Apparently Gregg Rosenthal, the nfl.com writer of Around the League agrees with you. That is pretty much what he said in a recent article.

btw: How do they know there will 11 QB's ranked higher than Ben.

As just about everyone has already said, these type things regardless who is doing the rankings are pretty much nothing.

I watch the nfl network quite often at 11pm to 12 during the week and really had not heard much about this show. But since the thread came up I googled it and noticed that at least six of the players in this last batch had articles with the same premise. "How could they diss our players like this?" Frankly I had never even heard of most of them. It is really sort of laughable.

btw 2: I noticed that Heath Miller made it at 97 and Troy Polamalu was at 91. Now I'm sure those are accurate too. No?

Again I wonder, How would they know 11 QB's will be ranked higher? I mean the other 60 players have not been announced yet. And if they already know who they are, why don't they just publish the whole thing. Get the stupid thing over with.

Oh, I get it, they even have me, who truly thinks this sort of crap is idiotic and worthless actually wasting time commenting on it. Hmm?

If they mean nothing, why do guys hop onto twitter seemingly all the time, questioning their place on it? I grant you that just because "the players" vote a guy 61, obviously doesn't mean he is the 61st best player... but it doesn' mean "nothing". Actually, it seems that the rankings mean a lot to many players. Sapp, a couple NFLN reporters, and players on twitter, quickly and vociferously (Sapp among the most vocal) questioned the ranking.

Bottom line is, if the early season was any indication of the offense, all things are lined up for Ben to seize another moment. The offense is no longer based on him taking big hits for the sake of downfield throws. Couple that with an improved running game and OL... I'm excited to see it.

okay, how's this?
those players that are actually worried about their place on this list have ego issues.
if being 'dissed' on the list is what motivates these guys then they aren't much of a competitor anyway.

While players may be affected by the results, they mean nothing in terms of their actual validity. As I've mentioned many times, players know little about their peers from game to game. They see two teams each week and one is their own. Maybe they watch another two on Monday night.

I watch more football than these guys on Sunday between 1-4 alone. They have very little knowledge of the league as a whole. Probably their greatest source of information is Berman.

I know that I must know nothing because I never played in the NFL, but nobody is less qualified to judge the rankings of these players than the rest of the players in the league.

I know that I must know nothing because I never played in the NFL, but nobody is less qualified to judge the rankings of these players than the rest of the players in the league.

Well, I wouldn't say that. I think when you play against a specific guy, you gain insight on that guy in comparison to others you've played that is very meaningful. So I think it is very good, to hear CBs voting on WRs, or FBs voting on ILBs, because the obvious struggle they face going against each other. But I don't think it is worthwhile to having an OT vote on the best S in the league.

This is all kinds of crazy, as Gregg Rosenthal artfully explained earlier. There are 11 yet-to-be-named quarterbacks ahead of Roethlisberger on the countdown.

Bruce Arians, the Arizona Cardinals coach who was a member of the Steelers coaching staff during Roethlisberger's first eight seasons with the team, agreed the quarterback deserves to be higher, joking "that just shows you how much the players know." (He probably wasn't joking.)

Andrew Luck has yet to show up on the countdown, but it's a safe bet he'll come out ahead of Roethlisberger. Arians coached Luck last season in Indianapolis, and he gave an honest assessment when he was told Luck likely will be ranked ahead of Big Ben.

"That surprises me. Andrew is going to be a fantastic quarterback, had an unbelievable year as a rookie, obviously broke all the records," Arians said on the "Top 100" reaction show. "They're two tremendous athletes. Neither gets the credit for their athleticism, they're two strong guys.

"Andrew belongs on the list, but he's not at that stage yet. He's got to put a couple rings on his finger and a bunch more wins."

You couldn't find a better judge than Arians in matters involving Roethlisberger and Luck. This counts as hard proof the players got (another) one wrong.